first thing in the morning. it was beautiful out.


darric started a fire

and kenzie kept watch

the other three got breakfast going


scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage

and fruit and cereal. the daytons were there too.

before we left for our hike, kenzie put out the fire.


we took the navajo trail. part of it was closed off, so we finished with a different trail. that trail went up to sunrise point.

we didn't see any snakes this time. just squirrels and lizards. (and men in capris - very disturbing)





when we got to the uphill part, it felt like it was never going to end. i was glad for it to be over. the clouds had just started to roll in and we heard the loudest thunder as we were walking to the cars. that did not make madi or tommy very happy.

our plans of sandwiches at the campsite were scratched because the rain had started back up. so we got ourselves a table for 9 at the ruby's inn restaurant. lunch was much better than the dinner we had last night. after we ate, max got to open his gift from the daytons.

(super hero pop-up book)
(nintendo dsi, game and case)

my favorite part was next, a walk across the street to get ice-cream cones. then we got in the cars and went around to the moss cave trail. it was much shorter than the other one.


one way led us to the mossy cave

and the other way led us to the waterfall. there was a log that went across the stream, right before the waterfall. it was begging bill and darric to cross it.

i guess the stream where the kids were throwing rocks was begging darric to cross it too.



we took the kids back to the rock shop and let them each pick something out. max got a geode, madi got a bag of rocks and a peacock rock and mackenzie got some magnets.

we had a short break from the rain. (as soon as we all got our ponchos on) there was some tree climbing and whittling going on.


as we prepared for dinner, the rain started back up. darric already had our fire going, so we didn't let that stop us from roasting hot dogs. the can opener broke, so we didn't get chili. madi wasn't a fan of the rain/lightening/thunder, so she hung out in the truck until it stopped.

and it didn't stop until some of us were making our second smore's.

(there was a good layer of mud on our shoes at all times)

billy roasted his marshmallow a little too long. i dared him to take a bite. and he did.
we thought it was almost bedtime because it was so cloudy out, but the sun made another appearance and we enjoyed it for another couple of hours (while the boys played in the mud).
max and i walked back to the hotel, while the rest of our family went to the convenience store. we got there way before them, so we enjoyed the view of the lake. there were a bunch of ducks in there, but they quickly disappeared.

after showers, it didn't take long for the kids (and darric) to fall asleep. i stayed up reading my book (the help).